Charlamagne Tha God, born Lenard Larry McKelvey, is a popular media personality, author, and mental health advocate. He is best known for his work as a co-host on the nationally syndicated radio show, "The Breakfast Club," and for his candid interviews with some of the biggest names in entertainment, politics, and sports.

The past few years have seen him proudly don the cloak of a mental health advocate - a role he unassumingly adopted following the release of his best-selling book, Shook One: Anxiety Playing Tricks On Me. His efforts to raise mental health awareness were recently recognized during a gala in his honor in New York City, where he received the distinguished Emma L. Bowen Humanitarian Medal.

"The Humanitarian Medal recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions to individuals and communities with the same passion and zeal as our late founder," said Patricia C. Jordan, Board Chair for the Emma L. Bowen Community Service Center. "We are delighted to be honoring Charlamagne, who like Mrs. Bowen, has dedicated himself to helping individuals, especially those in the Black community, face the stigma surrounding mental health illness so they can effectively and productively overcome their challenges."

Over the years, Charlamagne has opened up about his mental health struggles and has used his growing multimedia platform to raise awareness of mental health issues. On several occasions, he has revealed how his own father suffered from mental health issues for years but revealed his struggles after reading Charlamagne's book, Shook One. 

His father told him, "I was on 10 to 12 different medications throughout my life. And I was going to therapy two or three times a week and, 30 years ago I wanted to kill myself. Well, the reason I didn't was because of you and your older sister."

Charlamagne believes that an important reason behind his father's silence was a lack of acceptance regarding mental health issues. The topic of mental health is often taboo in Black communities, where members are expected to "man up" or "keep it in the house" due to a prevailing culture of shame attached to any form of mental weakness. This is compounded by the fact that marginalized communities across the United States suffer from a lack of quality health care, a history of discrimination, and a growing culture of police torture.

A 2022 study by Pew Research Center reports that limited access to quality medical care is the top reason Black Americans see as contributing to generally worse health outcomes for Black people in the U.S. Having experienced debilitating bouts of anxiety, depression, and PTSD throughout his life, the media mogul is well versed with the difficulties that the average Black American faces. 

Growing up in Moncks Corner, South Carolina, Charlamagne was surrounded by gang violence, drugs, and a dog-eat-dog atmosphere. In a bid to survive, he adopted a do-or-die attitude and eventually succeeded in shaping himself to become a mega-successful media mogul. With his platform now catering to millions, the man from Moncks Corner has set off on a journey that may turn around the fortunes of many struggling Black Americans.

In 2021, Charlamagne launched the Mental Wealth Alliance (MWA), an organization that aims to destigmatize, accelerate, and center state-of-the-art mental health outreach and care across the U.S. while building an unprecedented long-term system of generational support for Black communities.

The groundbreaking effort will raise $100 million over 5 years and will partner with Black-led organizations and experts to activate MWA's three major pillars of life-changing impact:

  • Train: prepare thousands of Black people to become research and clinical services providers in psychology, social work, and related fields through training and by establishing scholarship funds to provide training to increase the number of mental health care professionals from 4% to 14% to mirror the underserved population in need of culturally aligned mental health support.

  • Teach: advocate for the implementation of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Mental Health Literacy (MHL) in public K-12 education nationwide at federal, state, and local levels.

  • Treat: support culturally competent organizations in providing free therapy to more than 10 million Black Americans within 5 years through the support of existing organizations and funding of the establishment of new organizations.

"We want to train the next generation of psychiatrists and therapists, we want to be able to provide them with scholarships and money to where they can get their certification, especially Black and brown people because I feel like we need more...culturally competent psychiatrists and therapists in that field," he says.

Wielding the kind of influence people in the industry only dream of, Charlamagne often uses his star power to highlight how people from all walks of life are affected by the mental health crisis. He believes that the most important thing one can do in this regard is to speak their truth.

"A strange thing happens when you start to tell your story," says Charlamagne. "It encourages other people to tell theirs, and slowly but surely the stigma around mental health in the Black community starts to dissipate because folks learn that it's ok to not be ok and more importantly seek help for not being ok. It was never in my plans to become a mental health advocate, but after I started discussing my journey, writing about it in my second book, Shook One, talking about therapy, and sharing life experiences with listeners, a lot of people reached out to me. I want to be a part of providing that help. That's why I created MWA."

Charlamagne is also involved in several philanthropic efforts that seek to spread awareness of mental health issues. In 2021, he honored the Foster Youth at the LA County Independent Living Program's Virtual High School Graduation and Scholarship Award celebration. He presented five scholarships to students pursuing careers in mental health and also awarded them the benefit of free therapy sessions through the MWA. 

While Charlamagne still deals with anxiety, he believes that having access to mental health resources  and quality health care can help individuals not only survive but thrive in their personal and professional spheres.